Dan žena / International women's day

V petek 8. marca smo lahko praznovali Dan žena. Dan, ki ga slavimo v znak ženske politične, socialne in ekonomske neodvisnosti. Čeprav je ta dan izgubil svoj politični namen, pa je to odlična priložnost za vse moške in ženske, da  izkažejo svojo ljubezen in občudovanje vsem pomembnim ženskam v svojem življenju. 

Mnogo ljudi na ta dan kupuje rože, bonbonjere in druge malenkosti s katerimi želijo izkazati svojo naklonjenost. V ta namen pa sem jaz spekla čudovito čokoladno torto brez moke, za svoje sostanovalke.

 

Torta je nekoliko rustikalnega videza in za mnoge perfekcioniste (kot sem jaz) ne preveč simpatičnega izgleda. Vendar s časoma priraste k srcu. :) Razlog za tak videz je v preprosti sestavi torte, saj ne vsebuje ne moke in mleka - pravzaprav gre zgolj za mešanico jajc, čokolade, masla in sladkorja. Med peko torta zelo naraste, ko pa jo pustimo da se ohladi se le ta na sredini sesede. Torta je zelo krhka vendar zato nič manj slastna. Za še bolj čokoladni oksu sem torto oblila s čokoladnim oblivom (ganache) kar je torti dalo nekoliko svežine. Je precej težka torta, zato sem zraven postregla vanilijev sladoled, ki je nekoliko ublažil res intenziven čokoladni okus.

Za znanje:

V ameriki imajo za torto dva različna izraza; cake, ki je klasična torta narejena iz plasti biskvita in nadeva, ter tart, ki navadno označuje torto Evropskega izvora, ki vsebuje zelo malo oziroma nič moke (včasih moko nadomestijo oreščki). In zgoraj opisana torta je torej tart :)

 On Friday (8. March) was the International women's day. It's day that celebrates women's political, social and economical achievements and independence. Even though it's international women's day, this holiday is not celebrated worldwide. Even though this holiday lost its political meaning it remains celebrated. International women's day become an occasion for men to express their love for the most important women in their lives (wife, girlfriend, mother, grand mother, sister, etc.). But on these occasion men are not the only one that show love. This holiday become kind of friendship celebration between women.

On this day people mostly bring flowers, chocolate or something small for gifts just to show their appreciation and love. This is why I baked this delicious chocolate tart (flour-less and milk-less cake). Tart usually means cake (that originated from Europe) and has little or no flour.
I decided to bake it for my girl roommates, just to show them how important they are in my life.

 

The tart has this rustical look. If you are more a perfectionist like I am the tart may not look pretty (like usual perfectly round cakes does). But because this cake has no flour and it is actually only made from eggs, chocolate, butter and sugar it's very fragile. During backing this cake rises a lot, but while it cools the center of tart collapse.

For even more chocolate flavor i covered it wit chocolate ganache. And the taste was amazing. I had really strong chocolate flavor, almost like fudge. Beside I served vanilla ice cream, just to ease the intensive chocolate flavor.

Macarons

Živijo! Te dni je bila moja misija – peka slavnih francoskih macronov. Gre za beljakov piškot z mandlji s katerim tvorimo nekakšen sendvič, saj med dve plasti piškota napolnimo nadev po želji (jaz sem uporabila kar ganache – čkoloado stopljeno s smetano).

Ko sem preučevala ta poseben »piško«, ki je obnorel svet, sem naletela na vrsto težav, ki lahko vplivajo na to, da ta slaščica ne uspe. Prav zaradi tega dolgega spiska morebitnih težav, pa se to slaščico uvršča med zahtevnejše. Prav zato jo je verjetno moč dobiti le pri priznanih slaščičarskih mojstrih. In priznam, da so me vse te (lahko bi rekli) negativne informacije kar malo prestrašile. Zato sem se kar v naprej pripravila na popolno polomijo. Vendar pa mi je uspelo ravno nasprotno, saj sem uspela izdelati čudovite in okusne macrone.

Torej, zakaj se ti okusni piškoti uvrščajo med zahtevne slaščice?! Maso je pravzaprav zelo lahko pripraviti – zmešamo le sladkor v prahu, mandlje in beljakov sneg. Vendar pa se ravno tu skriva tisti majhen detajl, ki vpliva na to ali bodo macroni uspeli ali ne. Potrebno je namreč paziti, da so zmešane sestavine v pravem količinskem razmerju, da beljake stepemo v ravno prav čvrst sneg, da počakamo dovolj časa preden piškote postavimo v pečico, da je pečica ravno prav ogreta, itd. Po vsem tem pa lahko počasi dobimo idejo zakaj to ni ravno najlažja vrsta slaščice. Vendar pa verjamem, da lahko vsakemu uspe že v prvem poskusu. Konec koncev je uspelo tudi meni. Edino kar bi priporočila vsakomur, je to, da se seznani s to slaščico – zbiranje informacij res pomaga. Zdi se mi, da mi je ravno ta del pripomogel, da so mi macroni uspeli v prvem poskusu. Zato priporočam vsakomur, da prebere veliko različnih receptov različnih ljudi in da se pouči o vseh težavah in tehnikah, ki so potrebne pri peki.

V naslednjem tednu bom te informacije in seveda recept objavila tudi na mojem blogu.

Vendar pa imejte v mislih vedno to, da v kolikor vam ne uspejo v prvem poskusu, so še vedno odličnega okusa, četudi nekoliko nepravilne oblike. 

Hi! So the other day I decided to bake famous French Macarons for the first time. This is very popular pastry all over the world. So what Macaron basically is, is almond flavored meringue sandwich cookie filled with desired filling between two layers.

So when I studied how to make this famous Macaron I noticed that there is a list of thing that can go wrong. I also noticed that this pastry is considered difficult to make and that only great pastry chefs are serving them. So I was a bit intimidated, I’ll admit. And I prepared for a complete disaster. But they turned out perfect. I don’t want to brag or anything, but they really looked perfect and tasted delicious.

So why are they considered so difficult to make?! The batter is actually pretty easy to make. You basically mix powder sugar, almonds and meringue together. But the tricky part is to mix just the right amount of each ingredience, to make just the right meringue, to wait enough time before you bake them, to have the right temperature in the oven, etc. So now you probably get the idea why this isn’t the simplest cookie to make. But if I managed to make them perfect for the first time I am sure you can do it as well. I would just recommend you to read a lot about them (find different recipes from different people, and informations and techniques), because I think this might help you.

Next week I will post all of this informations and of course the recipe on my blog, so you could try this by yourself.

But still if they don’t come out perfect the first time you’ll make them just remember, they are still delicious.